File Backup Software Free for Windows 11

Use case

”I have newly upgraded Windows 10 to Windows 11 and would like to back up my files. I know Windows 10 has a backup software called Backup and Restore, but I cannot find it anywhere. Is it removed in the newly Windows 11? If so, can you recommend any any free file backup software. Thanks for advises.”

You may be surprised, the backup software are still in Windows 11. But the location of it has a little change, you can find it by clicking Start > Settings > System > Storage > Advanced storage settings >Backup options. Also, you can go to Control Panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore (Windows 7).

If you use it to create a system image backup or backup files in Windows 10, you may know that this software has many limitations. If you want an easy way, you can choose to use a third-party free file backup software for your new system.

Anyway, I’ll introduce both way in the following, you can check them before deciding how to backup your files in Windows 11.

Why do you need free file backup software for Windows 11?

Except for system in Windows 11, files can be the most precious items. Many users are willing to save their family photos,bank card information, favorite videos, working documents etc in their computer and want to see them at any time.

But the computer may not work properly as expected, it may run into various issue, such as, file system error, disk failure, system crash, boot partition missing, etc. These problem may even make your computer unbootable in severe cases. And your files may lose due to the system failure.

To avoid this situation, it is necessary to backup files to external hard drive or other storage device for another copy. Then, no matter what failure your computer encounter, you still have a copy of files and it can be easily recovered to another location.

How to create a file backup in Windows 11

Below I’ll show you how to create a file backup in Windows 11 and save it to an external hard drive. Please check the following steps.

Method 1: Backup files to external hard drive with Backup and Restore (Windows 7)

As mentioned earlier, the location of Backup and Restore (Windows 7) has a little change, you need to find it using the new path.

Way 1: Click Start > Settings > System > Storage > Advanced storage settings >Backup options, then scroll down to Looking for an older backup and select Go to Backup and Restore (Windows 7).

Way 2: Go to Control Panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore (Windows 7).

Then, follow the steps below to create a file backup in Windows 11.

Step 1. In the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) page, click Set up backup.

Step 2. Then, select the drive you want to save your files and click Next.

Step 3. Then, you will be asked to select what do you want to back up, you have two options, namely Let Windows choose (recommended) and Let me choose. Here take Let me choose as an example.

Step 4. Then, select the items you want to backup. And you can choose to include a system image or not. Then, click Next to continue.

Step 5. At last, review the items you want to backup and schedule settings. It allows you to set the backup frequency (daily/weekly/monthly) and backup time.

Method 2: Backup files to external hard drive with free file backup software

If you want an easier way, you can use file backup software free for Windows 11, AOMEI Backupper Standard, for example. It not only supports backing up files to external hard drive in Windows 11, but also to multiple storage device, such as, OneDrive, USB drive, network drive, NAS, etc.

And it can avoid any unwanted access by compressing the backup image to an .adi file and you can access it only by restoring files from backup using AOMEI Backupper.

More so, it supports many useful features, such as, daily/weekly/monthly backup, incremental backup, etc. It allows you to backup files regularly, and you can choose to backup only changed files instead of backup all the items every time.
Step 1. Download and install free backup software AOMEI Backupper Standard(Windows 7/8/10/11/XP/Vista supported). Then, open it and click Backup > File Backup to backup files to external hard drive.

Step 2. Then, click Add File or Add Folder to select the files or folders to be backed up. You can add multiple folders.

Step 3. Click the marked box and choose external hard drive as the backup destination. Please connect the external hard disk to your computer first.

Tips:

Options: You can enable email notification, set normal or high compression level for the backup file, select the backup method you prefer, etc.

Schedule: You can set a fixed backup interval to automatically backup your files, such as, daily, weekly or monthly.

Scheme: You can delete old backups to free up disk space using backup scheme. Note this feature is only available on the professional version.

Step 5. Finally, click “Start Backup” to perform the file backup task.

Beside backing up files to external hard drive, you still can backup files to cloud if you have enough space. If not, you can use a free cloud backup service to combine cloud storage space and then backup files with it.

Summary

If you want to backup files to external hard drive in Windows 11, you can use file backup software free for Windows 11. You have two options, namely built-in Backup and Restore (Windows 7) and third-party tool AOMEI Backupper Standard. Both of them can help you backup files, but the last one has more useful features, such as,incremental backup, schedule backup, email notification, etc.